Jeremiah o meara



(No Model.)

J. OMEARA.

RHEosTAT.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JEREMIAII OMEARA, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y,

RH EOSTAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,494, dated March 3, 1891. Application tiled November l5, 1890. Serial No. 371,596. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

. Be it known that I, JEREMIAH OMEAEA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rheostats, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

rlhe object of this invention is to furnish a rheostat which may be used in connection with therapeutical electrodes for electro-medical purposes, and which is also adapted for use in connection with electro-magnetic bells for ringing them, and which maybe used for the general purposes of a rheostat.

rlhe invention consists in a coil of wire of good conductivity mounted upon a suitable support and provided with a plug for electrical connection with an electric lam p-socket, for example, and adapted to receive electrodes or leading-out wires, whereby to utilize the current, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the two gures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is an elevation of an apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention, showing in dotted outline an electro-magnetic bell; and Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line ce a: of Fig. 1.

lVithout intending thereby to limit my invention to the mere details of construction, I will proceed to describe my invention by reference to the aforesaid accompanying drawings.

In the said drawings, c may represent an insulatingsupport having the end kerfs h.

c is a wire of good electrical conductivity, secured to the board by winding or ceiling it about the said board through the kerfs h.

The support a and its coil of wire constitute what I designate here the rheostatf7 r1`his rheostat is supplied with the electric current from an electric-light circuit by means of conductors d d, secured to binding-posts e c on the support, and which binding-posts also receive opposite ends of the wire c. rlhe conductors d d for convenience may be insulated and twisted together, as at and united in and secured to aplug y. This plug g is adapted to be connected electrically with the socket 7L of any ordinary electric-light lamp, and thereby to convey the electric-light current to the rheostat. In the leading-in circuit-wires i safety-plu gs j of approved construction are placed to prevent the burning out of the instrument or apparatus in case of grounding or other accident. rl`he lampsocket h and its key or cut-out l may be as usual.

At one end of the rheostat there are binding posts or hooks 1, 2, 3, i, 5, (5, 7, and 8 or any other desired number. For example, instead of having the hooks or binding-posts, as shown, there may be half as many such hooks or binding-posts as there are lengths of wire on one side of the support u, so that there shall be two lengths of wire for each. New by connect-ing the object to be electrically charged with the lowermost hook or binding-post by one wire and connectingthe other wire with one of the other hooks or bindingposts a current of greater or less strength, in accordance with the number of coils included between the electrodes, will be transmitted through such electrodes or conductors to the object. In the present instance I have shown wires m and n respectively terminating in hooks or eyes m and n to engage the binding-posts 1 to S. These wires m and n are connected with sponge-holders o and p, which are the electrodes for use in administering the electricity therapeutically, and for convenience I have selected for illustration the sponge-holders shown in the expired Patent No. 116,197, dated .lune 20, 1871.

Instead of having therapeutical electrodes, I may use leading-out wires suitable for the purpose, to which the rheostat is to be ap plied.

rl`he apparatus may be provided with any convenient device for testing the strength of the current. One such device I have shown in dotted outline in the d awings, and it consists 0f an electro-magnetic bell q, having wires 'r and e, which are provided with suitable mcans for connection with the hooks or binding-posts 1 to 8. By applying these wires 1' and s to the binding-posts and noting the loudness of the ringing of the bell the strength of the current may be ascertained with sufficient nearness for all practical purposes. Other testing devices might bel employed.

I may use this rheostat for ringing one or IOC ' more electro-magnetic bells, and the foregoply the device with a case or cover or box,

in which the respective parts may be convenientlyinclosed for transportation and use. The current is obtained by connecting the plug g with the electric-light lamp-socket in usual manner.

Obviously, if au electric-light circuit be not available, the rheostat may receive its current from other sources, and, indeed, a battery may be included in its leading-in or leadingout wires for increasing or modifying the current at pleasure.

l. A support and an electrical conductor coiled about it, a series of binding-posts, disposed at intervals along said support and in contact with the conductor, leading-in wires connected to opposite ends of said conductor and adapted to be connected with an elec-- tric-light circuit or othersource of electricity, and leading-out'wires, one of which is movable to include a greater or less number of coils of the conductor, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A support and au electrical conductor coiled about it, a series of binding-posts disposed at intervals along said support and in contact with the conductor, leading-in Wires connected to opposite ends of said conductor and adapted to be connected with a source of electricity, such as an electric-light circuit, leading-out Wires, one of which is movable to 4include a greater or less number of coils of the conductor, and means, such as therapeutical electrodes or bells, included in the circuit of the leading-out wires, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of November, A. D. 1890.

JEREMIAH OMEARA.- Vtitnesses:

JOHN I. HOUSTON, DANIEL J. MURPHY. 

